MPs expenses scandal: Don Randall speaks for first time

Don Randall has spoken publicly for the first time since it was revealed he took a taxpayer-funded trip with his wife to Cairns in the same week they took possession of their investment property in the city.

Don Randall opens up over his expenses to the weekly newspaper the Armadale Examiner. Photo: Andrew Meares

The West Australian Liberal MP - who has since promised to repay more than $5000 he spent on the Cairns trip to ''alleviate any ambiguity'' - has given an explanation for the journey, which he maintains was legitimate.

Mr Randall told Perth suburban newspaper Armadale Examiner he flew to Cairns in his capacity as shadow parliamentary secretary for local government and met then opposition whip Warren Entsch.

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On Wednesday, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Mr Randall flew to Cairns to have ''important discussions'' with Mr Entsch, but did not detail what those discussions were about. Fairfax Media revealed last week that Mr Randall billed taxpayers $5259 for the trip in November last year on the grounds of ''electorate business''.

Mr Entsch on Wednesday confirmed that he met with Mr Randall for a "couple of hours" during the trip but refused to divulge the content of those discussions.

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Fairfax Media has questioned Mr Randall's office at least eight times about his travel expenses and left numerous messages on the MP's phone, but is yet to receive a reply.

Mr Randall also spoke for the first time about a taxpayer-funded trip with his wife to Melbourne on September 15 last year to watch an AFL match. He claimed more than $5000 for the travel on the grounds of ''sittings of Parliament''. He defended the travel, telling the Examiner he had continued on to Canberra after a stopover in Melbourne while his wife returned home.

''You might want to check the front bar of the Hilton Hotel [in Melbourne] on grand final day to see how many members of all parties are there,'' he told another newspaper, The West Australian.

He said it was the media, not Labor, trawling over the issue, and said opposition MPs had contacted him to assure him they weren't fuelling the scandal.

He said MPs were allowed to break travel and spouses were entitled to a number of trips with their partners each year. He told the local newspaper he had avoided journalists because he did not wish to exacerbate the situation.